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seri menanti: daulat tuanku! what it means.

LET’S make one thing very clear: the cry “Daulat Tuanku” is, if uttered, meant to affirm the sacred power of the king or sultan of the day in a ceremony, or to pledge allegiance.

Let us make another thing very clear here: The system of rulers in this country reaffirms the fact that Malaysia has a long history of Malay sultanate governance, even after the peninsula was colonised by European powers.

I, and other loyal subjects of the sultans, will utter “Daulat Tuanku” at ceremonies to recognise the ruling sultan, but not when the sultans are in non-ceremonious situations, like in a private moment.

For example, I have great respect for my ruler, but I will not utter “Daulat Tuanku” every time we engage in a conversation. All you have to do is to sembah (place your palms together, raise your hands to touch the forehead as a sign of respect) only when you first meet.

I was in Montevideo, Uruguay, earlier this year. Before the presidential dinner to honour our King (the Yang di-Pertuan Agong), I, fully dressed in my best suit, was standing in line along with many foreigners waiting to be introduced. When it came to my turn, I made the sembah and I did it because I respect and honour our system of monarchy (for example, I may not like the King but I do it because it is dictated by proper protocol).

Others, one or three Malaysians in the line-up, did not do so, but they were not breaking protocol because they didn’t know any better.

Being a Malay, I performed my sembah simply because I consciously recognised the fact that I needed to do so.

Malays who discard the essence of being Malay in this country, such as questioning the nature of the Malay monarchy system, are to me just “Malays-ready-to-be-dominated-people-again” in the making.

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5 thoughts on “seri menanti: daulat tuanku! what it means.”

On the point of Malays in Singapore being a dominated lot, I think its about time Malaysians should stop thinking that way. We are not dominated but due to historical developments we are what we are now. Some Malaysian Malays translate all the restrictions that we face as proof or signs that we are dominated. But these resrictions are there not because the authorities want to dominate us. Its there because of many reasons but definately not because they want to dominate us. Nobody dominates the Malays of Singapore. But I believe this misunderstanding is held only by a handful of some Malays there.

Malaysia´s sultans in limbo, while poor girls in the kampung are covered head to toes, breeding mushrooms behind their ears axfisiated by PAS plastic bag style dressing…. Timpa daulat it is… Any fears of anyone wanting to colonise your country again and imbue your people in our decadent “yellow culture”… Brian Ferry meets the kampung